Brokers call on national associations

Brokers believe a major focus for national associations should be enticing outsider big banks to join the channel.

“What can the broker community do to get RBC, BMO, CIBC to get into – or get back into – the broker channel?” James Shinners of Mortgage Managers told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “The national associations should be soliciting to the VPs of these banks to get that business; I think this should be a major focus of the national associations.”

A perennial concern for brokers is the shrinking pool of lending options, and the addition of more bank partners would certainly be welcomed by many.

According to the most recent Broker Sentiment Poll run by CMP, 33 per cent of survey participants said their biggest concern in the next 12 months was fewer lenders operating through the channel.

Further, 29 per cent said shrinking market share was their chief concern.

And when it comes to promoting the broker channel, industry players believe there is room for industry associations to improve.

According to that same Sentiment poll, 55 per cent said associations are only “somewhat effective” at promoting the channel and 17 per cent believe they are “ineffective.”

So would soliciting the banks to join the channel help associations ingratiate themselves with brokers?

At least a few think so.

“I think it would certainly help; there are a few banks who don’t work through the channel and it would be helpful if they did,” Marcel Duguay of Centum Mortgage Loans Inc. told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “I think it should be a focus.”